Night Without a Bed - Karen’s Story (2021)

I have camped all my life, seriously... since I was 7 months old, and I will be 41 in October. I have slept on floors and couches at sleepovers and even when my kids were babies. I have fallen asleep in the car on road trips. I slept in a cardboard box on a cold October night three years ago to raise money for RAIHN (Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network). That was a unique experience but felt more like camping to me. 

When I saw that Family Promise was promoting A Night Without a Bed, I was all in, but of course, I do not do things simply, so I decided to sleep in my car and to my surprise, my 12-year-old daughter wanted to join me! We loaded up my Honda Fit with sleeping bags, pillows, and our clothes and off we went to sleep in the parking lot of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Mendon. It was 90 degrees that day and so I brought one of our fans that we could plug in and put through our window to help with airflow. Let me just tell you, it was still hot even with the fan. A parishioner even texted me to say that we could use their spare room (with air conditioning) if we got uncomfortable, as tempting as it was, I was determined to have the experience of being homeless even if it were for one night. 

As my daughter and I got ready for bed... putting the seats down, preparing the sleeping bags, and putting everything that was in my back seat into the front so we would have room the experience really started to hit my daughter and me. 

We talked about how fortunate we were to be in a safe spot at the church that we could have our windows open all night and how fortunate we were to have keys to the church to plug in our fan.

We talked about how a lot of people who live in their cars do not even know where they are going to park for the night, that they cannot choose when they sleep in their car or not, how it is super-hot that night, but there are those who cannot plug in a heater for the frigid winter Rochester nights. I explained to my daughter that people who live in their cars must be selective on what they have because they do not have room to store things.

We talked about how much “stuff” we have in our house and how blessed we are to have a house where we can have things that we do not need to pack up every day or night. With her big brown eyes, she says “What if Daddy and my brother were with us.” I said what if they were ... we would all be in one car: 2 adults, 2 kids in a small Honda Fit. She could not figure out how we would all fit in my car.

I explained that these are the things that someone must think about daily. 

I did not sleep very well but woke up at 8:00am knowing that I could go home and shower. Eventually. I had to work that morning at Church. I went into the Church bathroom and brushed my teeth, used baby wipes to “shower” and got dressed. Granted I looked tired, but it was not until I gave a witness reflection of my experience did people know that I did not go home to get ready for the day ...

You see, as I said to the parishioners... “you never know who is homeless or sleeping in their car by what they look like.” I realized that you need to be very resourceful but, in that resourcefulness, it is tiring. It was tiring for me for just one night... I am so blessed that our parish was able to raise 2,000 for Family Promise.

This experience changed my vision and mission of Social Justice.